Yeah, may be my sloppy reading but I definitely didn’t realize that you’re saying sex is not potentially harmful to true selfhood, I thought you’re saying it is. I agree that the hormonal effects you’re describing can be counterproductive to many other goals (or even to the goal of having sex in some cases) and worth being aware of. It’s only the idea of them being somehow qualitatively different from other motivations that I was arguing against.
discovery of the in-group / out-group mentality that is amplified by it
Can you elaborate on that? Is it supposed to mean that sex amplifies us vs them mentality?
Yes that’s what it means. It’s specifically addressed in my blogpost (based on 3 studies, referred in the footnotes):
“Which is where this hormone’s double-edged sword emerges. Excellent recent work has shown that oxytocin does indeed promote pro-social behavior, but crucially, only toward in-group members. In contrast, when dealing with out-group members or strangers, oxytocin’s effects are the opposite. In such settings, the hormone decreases trust, and enhances envy and gloating for the successes and failures, respectively, of the out-group member. Moreover, the hormone makes people more pre-emptively aggressive to out-group members, and enhances unconscious biases toward them. In other words, a hormone touted for its capacity to enhance pro-sociality does no such thing. Instead, what it does is worsen Us/Them dichotomies, enhancing in-group parochialism as well as outgroup xenophobia.”
And I do say sex can be potentially harmful to true selfhood, but it’s not my main point/concern at all.
Yeah, may be my sloppy reading but I definitely didn’t realize that you’re saying sex is not potentially harmful to true selfhood, I thought you’re saying it is. I agree that the hormonal effects you’re describing can be counterproductive to many other goals (or even to the goal of having sex in some cases) and worth being aware of. It’s only the idea of them being somehow qualitatively different from other motivations that I was arguing against.
Can you elaborate on that? Is it supposed to mean that sex amplifies us vs them mentality?
Yes that’s what it means. It’s specifically addressed in my blogpost (based on 3 studies, referred in the footnotes):
“Which is where this hormone’s double-edged sword emerges. Excellent recent work has shown that oxytocin does indeed promote pro-social behavior, but crucially, only toward in-group members. In contrast, when dealing with out-group members or strangers, oxytocin’s effects are the opposite. In such settings, the hormone decreases trust, and enhances envy and gloating for the successes and failures, respectively, of the out-group member. Moreover, the hormone makes people more pre-emptively aggressive to out-group members, and enhances unconscious biases toward them. In other words, a hormone touted for its capacity to enhance pro-sociality does no such thing. Instead, what it does is worsen Us/Them dichotomies, enhancing in-group parochialism as well as outgroup xenophobia.”
And I do say sex can be potentially harmful to true selfhood, but it’s not my main point/concern at all.